The present invention relates to a driver driving position adjusting device of a vehicle which is operative to adjust a driving position of a driver on a driver seat.
In general, the layout of a seat 100, a floor panel 101 and an accelerator pedal 102 is designed so as to be suitable for a standard (medium) size of driver M in conventional vehicles as shown in FIG. 37. The seat 100, which comprises a seat cushion 103, a seat back 104 and a headrest 105, is supported by a seat slide (not illustrated) as shown in FIG. 38, so that hip points P11, P12 and P13 of drivers L, M and S sitting on the seat cushion 103 are movable substantially horizontally and longitudinally. However, the accelerator pedal 102 and the floor panel 101 are both fixed.
Herein, this conventional structure has the following two problems.
A large size of driver L with a higher eye point can get a sufficiently clear front view with the drivers' eyes illustrated by a broken line eL in FIG. 37 when sitting on the seat 100. A small size of driver S, however, has a lower eye point and therefore the driver's eyes illustrated by a two-dotted broken line eS in FIG. 37 may be interrupted by a hood 106, thereby providing a difficulty in getting such a clear front view. Particularly, there is a problem that a near view may not be obtained sufficiently.
Meanwhile, the drivers L, M and S operate the accelerator pedal 102, putting their heels on a floor mat 107 which is placed on the floor panel 101. Herein, although there may be no particular problem with the large size of driver L and the medium size of driver M, the small size of driver S may have the following problem. Namely, since the leg of the small size of driver S does not reach the accelerator pedal 102 enough, the above-described operation of the accelerator pedal 102 with the driver's heal on the floor mat 107 may require a toe portion to press the pedal 102. Also, the pedal 102 moves forward as the pedal 102 is pressed. Accordingly, it may be difficult for the small size of driver S to operate the accelerator pedal 102 properly. In order to solve this difficulty, the small size of driver S usually operates the accelerator pedal 102, after keeping the driver's heel away from the floor mat 107.
Further, conventionally, the drivers L, M and S adjust their driving positions themselves to obtain the proper operation of the accelerator pedal 102 and a brake pedal and the clear front view.
In order to solve the above-described problems, a conventional driving position adjusting operating device of a vehicle shown in FIG. 39 had been invented (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 7-96784).
The conventional device shown in FIG. 39 is configured such that a seat 200 is adjustable in a slant direction between its front-and-upper position and its rear-and-lower position and a brake pedal and/or an accelerator pedal 201 are movable substantially horizontally and longitudinally in order to provide a proper positional relationship between the pedal 201 and the seat 200 regardless of the body size of driver.
In this conventional device shown in the figure, the leg of the small size of driver may reach the pedal 201 enough. However, since the pedal 201 is movable only horizontally and longitudinally, the small size of driver still cannot press the center of the pedal properly, putting the heel on a floor mat placed on a floor panel 202 even though the pedal 201 is adjusted in a position (toward the driver) which is illustrated by a solid line in FIG. 39.